Welcome to the World, Miral
by Light of Some Kind
Summary: A series about the different thoughts that race through different character's minds as they hold Miral for the first time. Currently featuring Tom, B'Elanna, The Doctor, and Admiral Owen Paris.
1. Tom

"You want to hold her?"  
  
I freeze. All my life I've been known as somewhat of a hot shot with a big mouth. Now I'm speechless. I've just been asked to hold my *daughter*.   
  
"I-I don't know... Yes...?" Truth be told, I'm afraid. I've been a real screw up my whole life. Now I have the perfect life with B'Elanna and now... Now a daughter. A child that I helped to create.... I don't want to - I don't know - drop her. Knowing me I would.  
  
B'Elanna smiles knowingly and hands Miral to me. She's so small, and I can't believe I've helped to create this tiny person I now hold. She's absolutely perfect. Beautiful. She looks like her mother.   
  
She sticks her tiny fist in the air, grasping for something. I place my finger by her hand like I've seen in so many movies, and she grabs it. I'll tell you something - seeing those expressions of happiness on the proud parents' face in a movie does no justice to the sensation I'm feeling now. I want to laugh and cry at the same time - and I do.   
  
"She's wonderful." I tell B'Elanna who just can't help but smile broadly. "And we made her. We created her. She's perfect...."  
  
I stop my ramblings and look at my daughter once more. Suddenly every single solitary screw up, no matter how major, is gone. They no longer matter. All that matters is this tiny bundle in my arms. This tiny bundle that marks that I *can* do something amazing and mind blowing. This tiny bundle that shouts to the world that life is worth living.  
  
"Welcome to the world, Miral." 


	2. B'Elanna

"Here is your daughter."  
  
I take her from the Doctor, gently. Nine months and countless hours of pain result in a baby. My baby. My eyes well up with tears as I hold her in my arms. She begins to fuss a bit, and I rock her some to calm her.   
  
She's perfect.  
  
I feel her tiny brow ridges with my finger. I feel my own, and suddenly they're not so repulsive. I see myself in her, and I smile.   
  
I kiss her forehead and marvel at the turn my life has taken. Before Tom I was insecure. I felt hideous, unloved. Then he came and told me I was beautiful. He told me he loved me and took me as his wife. I began to feel beautiful and loved, and now seeing myself in something so perfect seals it.   
  
I made her. I made her. Tom and I made her. We created life. Two misfits came together to make the perfect child.   
  
The Doctor calls on Tom, and I realize that soon we'll have our family in one room together for the first time  
  
Our *family*.  
  
"Welcome to the world, Miral." 


	3. The Doctor

"Is it over?"  
  
Cleaned up she's beautiful. It's amazing how something so small can have so much meaning. She's flesh and blood, I'm photons and forcefields, and yet I'm her godfather.   
  
I wouldn't be surprised if years from now we appeared in books that were all about "The first...." I can see it now. The first person/hologram godfather pairing is Voyager's EMH Mark I to Miral Paris...." Something along those lines. I'm not sure how they'll phrase that sentence. Mine is a little shaky, but the meaning is there.  
  
It's a big step for me and all holograms, it really is. B'Elanna Torres considered me person enough to be the godfather of her child, and Tom Paris found me person enough to agree. Imagine!   
  
I feel a small tug at my heart (as metaphoric as it is) and smile broadly. This little baby is my goddaughter. Every labeling of person and/or hologram is thrown out the window as I *really* realize this. The fact that I'd be the one caring for her should something happen to her parents is mind blowing. It doesn't matter now what she is and what I am. What matters is who she is and who I am.  
  
And she's my *goddaughter*, and I her *godfather*.  
  
"Welcome to the world, Miral." 


	4. Admiral Owen Paris

"Here you go, Dad."  
  
My son, *my* son, hands me my granddaughter, and I am in awe to say the least. She's a newborn, just a little over a day old, and my son is.... Almost not my son.   
  
He's changed a lot, for the better. Naturally. He stands beside his wife as I hold their miracle in my arms, postively beaming. Captain Janeway's told me of his remarkable turnabout in their time in the Delta Quadrant, and I must say, he's made me proud.  
  
I tell him so, and he looks as if he's about to cry. Suddenly he walks over to me and gives me a big hug, careful to mind his baby. He touches her head once before he rejoins B'Elanna Torres.   
  
I don't know what to think of her yet. She was the Chief Engineer, but she was also a Maquis. (But so was Tom, I remind myself.) She dropped out of the Academy during her second year, and all those I've talked to about her (and believe me, I've talked to a lot) have told me she has a fiery temper. Her father, however, insists that she's just misunderstood and frustrated.   
  
I hate psychology...  
  
The woman that stands before me looks just as happy as Tom, though. She's not angry, she's not throwing things. She's just standing there, smiling.  
  
I look back down at the bundle in my hands and marvel at what a change something so tiny can bring. Maybe they changed eachother for the most part, but this, my granddaughter, definitely did something, I can tell. A little over a day old and already she's a mover and a shaker. She'll make the family proud.  
  
Hell, she's already made me proud.  
  
"Welcome to the world, Miral." 


End file.
